Apple rejects court order

Wednesday, February 17, 2016 - 01:27

Apple opposes the court ruling compelling the company to unlock the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone. Kelsey Hubbard reports.

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It's Apple versus the U.S. Government. The tech giant says it will oppose a court order forcing it to help the FBI break into the iPhone recovered from the San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook. Investigators want to see if there was any communication Rizwan and his wife may have had with Islamic State and other militant groups.
The ruling handed down Tuesday by U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, said that Apple must provide "reasonable technical assistance" to investigators seeking to unlock the data on Rizwan's phone.
Apple's CEO Tim Cook says the court's demand threatens the security of Apple's customers and has far reaching implications.
"The government is asking Apple to hack our own users and undermine decades of security advancements that protect our customers- including tens of millions of American citizens- from sophisticated hackers and cybercriminals."
Apple analyst Ben Schachter from Macquarie Research told Reuters that it was surprising the government couldn't unlock the phone on its own and that it had to ask. He said he doesn't see this issue as having a material impact on the company in the short term, but he did add that "It is an incredibly complex issue, and it highlights how technology is moving faster than the laws. Apple has to be careful in terms of how they manage this from a PR standpoint over time as it is so fraught with political implications."
Apple shares are flat in early trading.